Airdrops

Airdrops, ICOs, The Henry Raines Show, Token

Start Here

June 11, 2018 • By admin

Interested in learning about cryptocurrencies and blockchain? Having trouble consuming the literature and filtering the noise?

FRESCO co-founder, Roy Huang, joined us on the Henry Raines Show and shared a way that you experience the process without risking or surrendering any fiat currency.

After learning about FRESCO, reviewing their whitepaper, and engaging with several members of the community on twitter; I was delighted that Henry coordinated a guest appearance with Roy. His warmth, enthusiasm, and sincerity naturally create an engaging environment. Reminding us that it is possible to leverage our existing strengths, talent, and social platforms to contribute.

What is FRESCO?

A blockchain application (DApp) that serves to create an awareness about art, reduce the opaqueness of the industry, verify authenticity, and create a navigable path for newcomers. Do you consider art a store of value? If your answer is no or you are uncertain, now is the time to explore and expand. By leveraging blockchain technology, FRESCO seeks to increase the number of participants in the world of art. You can learn more by listening to the show, reading my review of their whitepaper, checking out the artist amongst us on the show, Augi, or have a look at the FRESCO site and whitepaper.

I’ll highlight one of my favorite parts of this token: the incentive to learn. Not only about art, and blockchain, but about the economics surrounding both. The FRESCO community gives a detailed walk through in this post. Briefly, when an artist creates a work, for example, a print, s/he has the opportunity to create multiple editions. What is the right number of “editions” to create? Through FRES Edition, owners will be able to experiment with the appropriate number to offer. If an owner believes that s/he can generate interest by creating 25 multiples, s/he can allocate the token FRES Cash to reproduce and issue 25 FRES Editions. These must be ‘transferred’ to investors within 24 hours to be deemed a successful issuance. If not, the owner has the opportunity to revise the number of multiples. Once issued, collectors, dealers, institutions, and users have the opportunity to contribute additional FRES Cash toward the artwork, increasing the value of all editions. The FRESCO team is attracting experts in all areas of the art world, providing a transparent platform where one can learn by watching, engaging, experimenting, and doing.

Photo by Ian Schneider on Unsplash

Confidence in their product, a passion for giving emerging artists a voice, and expanding the art investing market; FRESCO secured funding (most recently from Elastos co-founder, Dr. Feng Han) and abandoned an effort to raise capital through an ICO. Rather than put retail investors at risk during this time of uncertainty or delay participation, FRESCO is conducting an Initial Coin Distribution (ICD). Through the ICD, you have an opportunity to earn 2,000 FRES tokens, experience some basic elements of utilizing blockchain technology, and gain an understanding of the art market.

There are several ways to participate:

Register for the ICD. It is in the final stages, and requirements vary depending on whether you are or are not actively involved in the art world. The theme of this version is “The Art Expansion”
If you are not in the art world, you’ll need to upload a video of you conversing about art to YouTube, twitter and Instagram with #FRESCOArtExpansionv5.
Next you need to take a 100-question test about art.

FRESCO Awards. Use your talent to share with the world what Art and Blockchain mean to you. There are weekly awards for writers, designers, and videographers. Additionally, there is a special Art Award running through August 22, 2018.

Before you start:

Learn how to set up an Ethereum Wallet. If you do not have experience is setting up a wallet, now is the time. This is a perfect way for you to understand the difference between public and private keys in cryptography.

Recommended wallets include, My Crypto Wallet or My Ether Wallet. Both have tutorials that are exactly where you should start in understanding some basics. Learn about browsers and extensions that are compatible with the blockchain through MetaMask.

Even if you know the basics of phishing attempts and scams, I see these happening regularly throughout the cryptocurrency world and on social media. Reminders of insuring that you are on the correct, secure (https://), website and best practices are helpful even for seasoned experts. Once you get a comfort level, it is easy to be tempted by scams. Many have learned this lesson by experience and losing a transaction. In an effort to curb that I’ll repeat my regular PSA … legitimate airdrops, distributions, circulation of tokens DO NOT ask you to send BTC, ETH or any other cryptocurrency, or fiat currency. Do not fall prey to false social media handles (often with a slight transposition of characters or addition of numbers) encouraging you to send .03 BTC for the token.

Photo by Austin Chan on Unsplash

This blog is provided for informational purposes only. Nothing herein shall constitute legal or financial advice.

Airdrops, PPI

May 15, 2018 • By admin

This past week on The Henry Raines Show, I talked about airdrops. I have been contemplating what token projects to use as an example for my blog and assisting colleagues interested in learning more about cryptocurrencies, coins, or tokens. I needed a “Rock Castle Construction,” (the iconic QuickBooks® sample company file).

Silicon Valley, a show airing on HBO, recently aired episodes surrounding Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs). Shortly after, a clever, well-versed in both the show and the cryptocurrency space, personality appeared on twitter as @PiedPiperCoin.

In less than six days, this handle managed to produce a wealth of humorous tweets and material, as well as developing an ERC-20 token and distributing it through an airdrop.

I consider myself a connoisseur of low-end whitepapers and tokens. What this handle has managed to assemble in such a short period of time is remarkable. It is the perfect hypothetical (I’ll reiterate it several times … it is a meme, satire, I do not recommend buying, selling, trading or doing anything other than enjoying the show). @PiedPiperCoin ($PPI) has constructed a far more transparent project than many of what I have seen. No funds were solicited, and $PPI has provided transparent, timely, relevant data for me to use as examples for many posts and lessons.

What exactly is an airdrop? They typically are the disbursement of native tokens (for future or current use on a platform/project). Many refer to them as “free,” I prefer to liken them to a coupon. They can be provided as the result of a fork, a bounty, holding a particular currency or wallet, or being on an exchange. I’ll address forks and possible accounting implications for the ICO in future posts. With social media and larger technology companies banning advertising of ICOs, an AirDrop is an alternative method of creating awareness for the token and project by distributing the native token to potential users.

The first airdrop utilized what I consider a set of best practices as a consumer signing up for an airdrop. Most ICOs will ask you to register for an airdrop, providing the Ethereum public address to send the tokens.

Protect your private keys. – $PPI asked for your public, Ethereum Address and provided instructions on how to sign up for the two primary ERC-20 token wallets. MyEtherWallet.com (and MetaMask) provides a detailed safety tutorial on the difference between public and private keys.
Use caution when downloading native wallets of smaller projects – ($PPI) does not have a separate wallet nor a website requiring registration.
Do not click on redirect links to wallets – $PPI gives explicit instructions on how to be certain you are at the correct website with SSL certificates and “Secure” is noted in your browser.
Do not send cryptocurrencies in exchange for the airdrop – The $PPI did not ask you to send ETH in exchange for $PPI.
Beware of scams and hijacked accounts – someone is already scamming the satire!

Do not share personally identifiable information (social security numbers, government issued id’s, banking information, etc.) $PPI asked for a few, basic public identifiers and references to the show. (Public Ethereum Address, twitter handle, a link to a tweet about the airdrop, and a couple of TV show references in a Google Doc)

After the airdrop completed, $PPI published a post on how to check for your tokens and an additional post covering the history and possible future of the project. I am happy to see in this update that $PPI is going to take some time to focus on the project and building out the team (I can barely keep up, I’ve had to put my cat to work).

I spy $PPI … tokens in my wallet.

$PPI is offering an additional type of airdrop, a social bounty.

I am looking forward to blogging about the additional events and accounting for the transparent smart contract in the days ahead.

This blog post is for informational purposes only. Nothing herein shall be construed as financial or legal advice.